Biden lawyers turn over 5 more classified documents
January 14, 2023
Five additional pages with classified markings were discovered at US President Joe Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware, the president's counsel said on Saturday.
The pages were discovered on Thursday and immediately handed over to Justice Department officials, lawyers said.
What did Biden's counsel say?
Biden special counsel Richard Sauber said he facilitated the handover to the Justice Department on Thursday.
"While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages. The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them," Sauber said.
Biden's legal team acknowledged it had found classified documents relating to Biden's time as vice president at his Delaware home.
Sauber said Biden's lawyers have acted "immediately and voluntarily" to hand over all the documents to the proper authorities.
Biden lawyer Bob Bauer said in a statement that the president had directed his attorney to be "forthcoming and fully cooperative with the National Archives and Records Administration and the Justice Department regarding the documents."
"The president's personal attorneys have attempted to balance the importance of public transparency where appropriate with the established norms and limitations necessary to protect the investigation's integrity," he said.
Other documents found at Biden's residence
On November 2, Biden's legal team discovered a batch of documents at his former Washington think-tank office.
The documents date back to Biden's time serving as vice president under the administration of former President Barack Obama.
This week, another set of documents was found at Biden's Delaware residence, including a small number in the president's garage.
How does the find compare to documents found at Trump's residence?
The discovery of classified materials at offices formerly used by Biden, as well as at his home prompted questions on how the circumstances compare with the seizure last year of hundreds of documents marked as classified from Mar-a-Lago, the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump.
Roughly 300 documents have been recovered from Trump properties since he left office in January 2021. In August, FBI agents took about 33 boxes and containers of 11,000 documents from Mar-a-Lago, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office.
In August 2022, FBI agents retrieved 33 boxes of files from Mar-a-Lago. The search came after lawyers for Trump provided a sworn certification that all government records had been returned.
In November, Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. Biden has yet to announce whether he will seek a second term
sdi/sms (Reuters, AFP, AP)